Femtocell Base Station for Controlling Communication According to Specified Criteria
A method and apparatus is disclosed to restrict access services to a communication device. The services may be restricted based upon hardware characteristics, geographic characteristics, user specifications of the communication device and/or specified rules. The method and apparatus may restrict its service to only specific applications suitable for the environment and the time. Upon a request for a service that is now restricted, the method and apparatus may notify an end user that the service was requested. Further, the method and apparatus may notify an originator of the request that the service is not available and may ask for a short message to be delivered to the end user.
1 . A femtocell base station, comprising:
a geographic module configured to determine a distance between the femtocell base station and a communication device; and
a managing module configured to:
designate a predefined range from the femtocell base station as a protected area, and
initiate a generation of a message to be sent to the communication device if the communication device is within the predefined range.
2 . The femtocell base station of claim 1 , wherein the message includes information notifying the communication device about a blocked incoming call.
3 . The femtocell base station of claim 1 , further comprising:
a device module configured to classify the communication device based on a hardware characteristic of the communication device.
4 . The femtocell base station of claim 1 , wherein the geographic module is further configured to:
classify the communication device based on the distance from the femtocell base station to the communication device.
5 . The femtocell base station of claim 1 , further comprising:
a user priority module configured to classify the communication device based on a user specification.
6 . The femtocell base station of claim 1 , wherein the managing module is further configured to:
restrict access of the communication device to a service if the communication device is within the predefined range.
7 . The femtocell base station of claim 1 , wherein the managing module is further configured to:
restrict access of the communication device to a subset of services available to the communication device if the communication device is within the predefined range, wherein the subset of services do not initiate noise emissions from the communication device.
8 . The femtocell base station of claim 1 , wherein the managing module is further configured to:
block a call of the communication device if the communication device is within the predefined range during a time window.
9 . The femtocell base station of claim 1 , wherein the managing module is further configured to:
prevent a noise emitting alert from reaching the communication device if the communication device is within the predefined range during a time window.
10 . A femtocell base station, comprising:
a geographic module configured to determine a distance between the femtocell base station and a communication device; and
a managing module configured to:
designate a predefined range from the femtocell base station as a protected area, and
restrict access of the communication device to a service if the communication device is within the protected area.
11 . The femtocell base station of claim 10 , wherein the service does not initiate a noise emission from the communication device.
12 . The femtocell base station of claim 10 , wherein the managing module is further configured to:
block a call of the communication device if the communication device is within the protected area during a time window.
13 . The femtocell base station of claim 10 , wherein the managing module is further configured to:
prevent a noise emitting alert from reaching the communication device if the communication device is within the protected area during a time window.
14 . The femtocell base station of claim 10 , wherein the managing module is configured to designate the predefined range from the femtocell base station as the protected area based on a power of the femtocell base station.
15 . The femtocell base station of claim 10 , wherein the managing module is configured to designate the protected area based on a transmission delay between the communication device and the femtocell base station.
16 . The femtocell base station of claim 10 , wherein the managing module is farther configured to:
determine, based on an identity of a user of the communication device, whether to restrict access of the communication device to the service if the communication device is within the protected area.
17 . The femtocell base station of claim 10 , wherein the geographic module is further configured to determine a distance from the femtocell base station to a second communication device, and wherein the managing module is further configured to:
enable, based on an identity of a user of the second communication device, access of the second communication device to the service if the communication device is within the protected area.
18 . A method, comprising:
determining a distance from a femtocell base station to a communication device;
designating a predefined range from the femtocell base station as a protected area; and
restricting access of the communication device to a service if the communication device is within the protected area.
19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
initiating a generation of a message to be sent to the communication device if the communication device is within the protected area.
20 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
blocking a call of the communication device when the communication device is within the protected area during a time window.